Thursday Movie Picks: A Siege

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Hold steady, this week at Wandering Through the Shelves we're talking about sieges! There's a lot to choose from this week, but my mind went straight to franchises. I'm sure everyone has seen these.

 1) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

 The siege of Helm's Deep is the gold standard of cinematic sieges, in my opinion. I loved watching this in theaters, it was so exhilarating and I felt the same way watching it at home. 

 2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

 While it felt a bit more powerful in the book, the attack on Hogwarts is the most intense thing to happen in the Harry Potter books. There was so much going on, and we lost so many characters we loved.

 3) Prince Caspian

 The Chronicles of Narnia sequels didn't exactly soar at the box office, but I still really liked Prince Caspian. The siege in this film was focused more on Peter fighting Miraz, but it was a good scene over all. I got the feeling from the actor's commentary that it was their favorite to shoot as well.

Comments

  1. BirgitAugust 9, 2018 at 10:50 AM

    Love the 2 Towers and I thought the way they put humour in was terrific plus I loved that the trees were also attacking the evil Christopher Lee..poor Chris..I forgot his character’s name. Harry Potter is another great choice and one that is quite sad considering that good characters died as well. I have not seen Prince Caspian but sounds like it would be fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 9, 2018 at 3:16 PM

      Poor Chris, and his death in ROTK was off screen for some reason.

      Delete
  2. s.August 9, 2018 at 12:13 PM

    oh man Helm's Deep is still the most epic battle I've seen in movies

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 9, 2018 at 3:15 PM

      I love Helm's Deep. I think they topped it in ROTK but it's still so memorable.

      Delete
  3. GetterAugust 9, 2018 at 1:23 PM

    Oooh, we match. :D
    I didn't want to add HP because I feel like I could pick it with almost every theme a little.. so.. I tend to stay away from it.
    Haven't seen your third pick... even though I like the guy who plays Caspian.. you know, you know who I mean! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 9, 2018 at 3:15 PM

      Yes! Ben Barnes, he was in Westworld, where I also referred to him as Prince Caspian lol

      Delete
    2. GetterAugust 10, 2018 at 9:45 AM

      Ah yes, Barnes! He has a nice face. :D

      Delete
  4. thevoid99August 9, 2018 at 2:28 PM

    Ah, these are good picks. Prince Caspian has its moments while the other 2 are excellent films. Especially Two Towers with that Helm's Deep sequence which is intense.

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 9, 2018 at 3:14 PM

      Prince Caspian wasn't nearly as bad as its reputation. Dawn Treador on the other hand...

      Delete
  5. DellAugust 9, 2018 at 9:18 PM

    It's getting close to time for a LOTR rewatch. Been a while since I took them all in. Hated Prince Caspian. Still working my way through the Potter flicks so I haven't gotten that far, yet.

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    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 11, 2018 at 10:56 PM

      I Hope you enjoy Deathly Hallows Pt 2 when you get there, it's probably my favorite of the Potter films.

      Delete
  6. joel65913August 10, 2018 at 9:33 PM

    I hated all the LOTR movies but this one most of all because it neither started nor ended. I know it was a constructed that way but UGH.

    While I enjoyed all the HP books the first movies were a rocky lot but they improved as they went along and by the time they got to this wrap up they were truly excellent films.

    Never being a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia I haven't seen Prince Caspian.

    I stuck to more earthbound sieges for mine.

    55 Days at Peking (1963)-In 1900 during China’s Boxer Rebellion Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi (Flora Robson) orders The Boxers, a group of Chinese secret societies to massacre foreigners within China. In the diplomatic compound a group of ambassadors, their families and staff hole up to resist the siege. Marine Corps Major Matt Lewis (Charlton Heston) aided by British Consul Sir Arthur Robertson (David Niven), devise a strategy to keep the rebels at bay until an international military relief force arrives while Lewis romances Russian baroness Natalie Ivanoff (Ava Gardner). A bit inflated but told on an epic scale.

    Under Siege (1992)-Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A man of action (Steven Seagal) finds himself trapped in an enclosed space-in this case a nuclear battleship-when terrorists (Tommy Lee Jones & Gary Busey) take the vessel hostage and it’s up to him and an innocent bystander (Erika Eleniak) to save the day! That’s right it’s Die Hard on the open seas!! The thing that separates this from the dozens and dozens of rip-offs that followed the release of the first classic is that it’s genuinely entertaining because director Andrew Davis knows how to shoot action and make it compelling for the audience.

    The Siege (1998)-After the US military abduction of an Islamic religious leader New York City becomes the target of escalating terrorist attacks. The FBI's Counter-Terrorism Task Force chief Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) teams up with CIA operative Elise Kraft (Annette Bening) to hunt down the terrorist cells responsible for the attacks. As the bombings continue the government declares martial law sending troops, led by Gen. Devereaux (a deeply nuts Bruce Willis), into the streets of New York City where he starts rounding up Arab-Americans into detention centers. Appalled Hubbard & Kraft race the clock to defuse the situation as it escalates to a fever

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 11, 2018 at 10:55 PM

      You hated LOTR? How? lol.

      I'm kidding. They're not for everyone.

      Delete
  7. ElinaAugust 13, 2018 at 8:34 AM

    OMG the Harry Potter one was really remarkable, felt like something out of a different franchise, I really wasn't ready to cope. I never saw Prince Caspian, but this reminds me how sad I am they never made a decent franchise out of the Narnia books!

    ReplyDelete
  8. WandererAugust 16, 2018 at 3:01 PM

    LOTR is great and seeing it in the theaters was such an experience.

    ReplyDelete

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